1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer user interfaces and, more particularly, to a window access and management system utilizing icons and miniature windows.
2. Description of the Related Art
An icon is a pictorial representation of an object, action, property, or some other concept on a computer display screen. Icons can be displayed within control windows to represent entire programs or files in programs. Furthermore, icons can be used to directly manipulate various operations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,677 describes a "mini-icon" which enables a user to move or copy a document into a folder by dragging the document to the mini-icon. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,412 describes a displayed object (e.g., icon) which can be moved to a different workspace to regroup its associated files. U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,678 describes icons which replace common user interface symbols, such as the title window bar, command bar, and scroll bars.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,655 describes a displayed file window that can be completely hidden by other displayed window(s). To do this, an icon is generated and displayed as a conduit in a superordinate location of the display screen. Such a conduit enables the user to re-access the hidden window. U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,765 addresses the same issue by providing a porthole that allows the user to view portions of windows hidden behind other windows.
Another porthole or miniature window concept is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,303, which provides "viewport" windows for a main file window. While one "miniature" viewport window provides an overview of the file, the other provides a close-up detailed view of a portion of the overview window.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,412 describes a window "pictogram" which is displayed with a corresponding icon "pictogram" The window "pictogram" enables the user to view more information about the content of its corresponding displayed object without actually viewing the main window for the object. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,173 describes "small-scale representations" or miniature windows that appear on a screen simultaneously with the main file window. The miniature windows provide a record of changes made in the file window.
A locator input device, such as a mouse, enables users to perform the previously described operations on the icons. Also, users may utilize the tab key in active windows to move the curser along a title bar to perform operations. To do this, the user presses the terminal "ENTER" key. Furthermore, the "page up" and "page down" terminal cursor keys, as well as by the mouse cursor itself, enable users to access scroll bars in window frames.
In the related art, icons merely represent pictograms of the file types or windows they denote. As such, the prior art fails to address several important problems. First, often it is desirable to provide, in a single window, a visual representation of all the windows that belong to the same application. The present invention provides a means of not only collecting together both icons and/or miniature windows, but also a means of showing various relations among them.
Second, often it is desirable to provide a convenient means of performing operations on the actual window through its representative icon or miniature window. The present invention not only provides a means for performing operations (e.g., sizing, moving, etc) on the actual window using an icon or miniature window, but these miniature window representations also dynamically maintain the state of the actual window (as opposed to maintaining a static state which must be periodically and explicitly refreshed).